Windows has taskbar for all open windows: I had trouble switching to other open windows.

Command (the proper name of the "Apple Key," abbreviated "Cmd") + ~ switches between open windows within any app, across the system. Also many programs have a built in "window" menu for keeping track of open windows. Many of those assign keyboard shortcuts to get to the window you want instantly. One example assigns Cmd+1 to the first opened window, Cmd+2 for the second... Still could use some polishing.

System prefs window:

Customizable top bar doesn't bother me. it uses otherwise wasted space next to the "show all" button. Plus, if you don't like it, press the "tic tac" widget on the right of the title bar to toggle it on/off. Use the "panes" menu to navigate to other panes when the "show all" is hidden.

Tab navigation in web forms:

Programmers can allow tabbing to select other elements of the page. See the preferences within Internet Explorer for an example. Otherwise, use the "feedback" link in Safari!

dialog box use

In "save" dialog boxes, use "Cmd+" the first letter of the choice you want, for example "Cmd+D" to select "Don't Save" This issue could still use work. Also, enable "Full keyboard Access" (Keyboard System Preference) within to allow tabbing to select options in dialog boxes. Keyboard-only navigation in Mac OS X is still not yet perfect. It seems Apple desperately does not want to copy Windows' pretty decent system for this.

"The OS X Files" is already taken by Bob LeVitus, a noted Mac author.

Here's hoping next time you try out the Mac in the professional environment, that you get to try a Pro machine that isn't two years old and designed well before its OS. Says a lot for older, bottom of the line Apples, though.

thanks for the details.. I have been lusting for a mac recently, but im not sure that when i get the money i'll be able to spend it on the computer. i have a great pc right now with all the latest software... i wish i could find somthing to justify buying the damn thing. maybe if i get into art school i'll be required to have one.

anyway, thanks, its a good read.. i love the analysis. I also really liked your windows xp article. keep it up.

Then I get a job at a local newspaper and they only used MACs - besides the couple PCs that managers would use because they most likely didn't want to make the switch. For 2 years I was forced to learn the ins and outs of my 15" green iMac gumdrop. I was using OS9 because some of the software we needed to use wouldn't work on OSX yet. In fact - I still use OS9.

About a year-an-a-half into the job I got a freelance project and worked out a deal to make this company a small website in exchange for a new MAC. The deal was made and I got to bring my first MAC home to 3 other PCs.

At first it was a fight to see which one really took more of my attention. At first it was my MAC because it was new and I wanted to master it. Then it was my PCs because I could get things done faster. Months went by with this changing of hangs until I stopped pulling my PC keyboard in front of me and continued to use that MAC's.

To be honest - I love them both and have to use them for testing purposes. However - when it comes right down to it, I love my MAC. Call it a crush but I think it's for real.

I agree with most of what you had to say but having a better keyboard and bigger screen definitely enhances the user experience.

----------------------------------------
To answer your System Preference bar question:
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Yea - it is for frequently-used items. It doesn't make much sense to have those there until you actually go into customize a setting. For example: Say you go to the System Preference panel and choose to change the desktop image. Instead of having to jump back (by clicking the top left SHOW ALL icon) you can quickly jump to your next commonly used preference area.

When you look at it like this it really ends up saving to a bit of time.

Alright - I've written enough today but great write-up Steve :-)

Turning it off or navigating without it is not the point. The point is that the initial reaction of some users is confusion. If enough people are initially confused by this feature I'd say it is bad design even if it can be turned off.

A simple unsaved document warning dialog also highlights something MacOS has always done better than windows: wording of dialogs and controls.

You've obviously forgotten the (in)famous "an error of type -11 has occurred"...

Most disturbing line on AOV ever!

Also worth noting is the amount of either free or cheap little utilities that make OS X better to deal with. In this case, WindowShade X, by Unsanity, brings back the OS 9 tradition of shading windows upon double-click to the bar. This helps immensely.

Also definitely needed is LiteSwitch X, which makes Command-Tabbing through running applications so fantastic it hurts. Especially great is the ability to mark any and all for quit, and then releasing the command-tab keys, quitting all marked apps instantly.

about the save dialog, looking at this has made more a little more observant of the dialog boxes on both my winxp and rehat machines. It seems gnome has caught on to the "save", "dont save" idea. is this new (i am a new commer to linux--running redhat 9).. or has windows just been too slow (or arogant perhaps?) to recognize this (dialog box wording) as a good idea? comments?

~bc: I did keep in mind that I was using old hardware. I imagine the experience would be much better on a newer machine (especially with the improved mouse and keyboard and larger screen). That said, I don't feel that the hardware actually limited my experience with the operating system very much. Also, see Nathan’s reply regarding the system prefs window. Thanks Nate.

Charlie: I'm sorry to disturb, but I'm all about de-stigmatizing masturbation - the human wang is a beautiful thang!

Garrett: I'll check out those after-market add-ons (WindowShade & LiteSwitch) - however, for the purposes of my “experiment”, I wanted to stick with the core OS.

ryan: I think Mac OS has had these well-worded action-oriented button-labels in dialog boxes for a long time (am I right?).

Tim Bray has some good comments on keyboard navigation in OS X.

Thanks for the great comments, everyone.

This is odd. Maybe it's, like keyboard navigation, just an instance of Apple not wanting to imitate Windows's taskbar?

Anyway, I still want a Powerbook for next Xmas.

If you lost a window and you want to find it click on the application icon in the dock and then select window from the top menu and you can then select the window you want. I did find it hard to navigate on older Macs but not on OS X. The graphics are incredible compared to anything I have seen before on a computer. I am actually playing games on the Mac - they are fun on the Mac whereas they were a real pain on the PC.

Go to System Preferences...
Go to the Keyboard section...
Go to the Full Keyboard Access tab...

...Change the radio button from "Text boxes and lists only" to "Any control"

-Nathan

I know this works on many apps, but I'm not positive it works for everything. Works on the browsers & apps I frequently use, though.

The place where I work uses both Windows and Macs. Sure. PCs cost a bit less. But there is no complete solution for Video and Audio. Configuration is a lot of work. And if you have multiple packages running, you have to try your luck. You cannot install different packages on a single PC.

Just in case you plan to continue using OS X at all, here's a tip. In safari go View->Status Bar (or command-\) and this should give you the same amount of feedback you are used to. It's still beyond me why apple chose to leave the status bar hidden by default - many people have complained about it.

Good review btw. Very refreshing to find an unbiased look at os x from a windows user.

L.

With respect to the Dock, this is why Applications are shown but open windows are not. The confusing part for Windows users is that the Dock can also hold almost any other kind object, such as folders, non-running applications, minimized pages, etc. Specific open windows are accessed, as others have pointed out, by control-clicking on an application and choosing the desired window from the popup list. This functionality drastically reduces dock clutter, making the Dock more efficient. (How does the Task Bar look when you have 20 html pages open for editing?)

If one is a new computer user, is familiar with the Mac design philosophy, or is not un-learning Windows, this functionality makes perfect sense. Its one of those basic issues that always causes problems for those of us that are "bilingual".

What was that, about 4 different ways to get to a hidden window?

Well, it combines them all into one thing. It's kinda annoying actually, but no real clutter.

It's interesting that you mention the "boxing gloves effect". I use both Macs and PCs and for me I think I'm wearing a Strait Jacket whenever I have to use windows. It just seems that windows only wants to let you do things certain ways whereas the Mac tends to get out of the way and let me work.

Thanks for an interesting review.

Also, you didn't mention that Apple now has a utility called X11 that lets you run unix/linux software on the Mac. Lots of neat open source stuff out there. Very geeky, but can be cool. Try OpenOfice.org for a free replacement for the way overpriced MS Office. Very nice.

Also, there is one more type of item you can put in the Doc... folders aliases. I put an alias of my applications folder and an alias of my hard drive in the Doc. With one click I can start any application on the machine. Also with one click I can branch to any file anywhere in the hard drive. Try that in Windows... NOT.

In all that, I still haven't found anything that I can do in Windows that I can't do on the Mac. (Not even counting Virtual PC).

I dont really understand what you mean, but I think that's what the QuickLaunch in Windows is for...

I must say, it would be excellent if Windows had that spring-loaded folder thing. I've used Macs quite often, and that's one thing I would really love to have in Windows. As for anything you can do in Windows that you can't in Mac... There sure are a lot of programs and games that don't run in Mac. I think the goal of a really good OS would be to stay out of the user's experience as much as possible. Most people don't really use a computer to use the operating system, they use it to use the programs they need. It's my opinion that it would be best if the OS just stayed out of the way most of the time while allowing you to do whatever it is you want to do.

Well that's the understatement of the year. X11 actually is a large package that has been developed over two decades. It is the basis for graphical interfaces on Unixes and Linux. The version Apple is using is XFree86, an open source implementation of X that is also used on Linux. For a full history see http://www.linux-mag.com/2001-12/xfree86_01.html

Welcome to the wide world of open source software. Other open source packages Apple has already provided you in OS X are Apache (webserver), OpenSSH (remote login), Samba (windows networking support), and GCC (compiler). Not to mention that the kernel iteself is based on FreeBSD.

I think the legacy of OS X will be that it was the software that united the Mac and Unix/Linux communities.

If you want to bring an app to the front while hiding the app you were in, Option-click the destination app's dock icon.

If you want to bring an app to the front while hiding EVERY other app, Cmd-Option-click the destination app's dock icon.

There are a bunch of other tricks like this for power users. Apple likes to make the interface as simple as possible for users who just point-and-click, while hiding a lot of power for exploration for power-users. They often get the best of both worlds that way - you don't have to LOOK at a confusing, crowded interface, but you can access all kinds of extra features as you learn more.

The right side of the dock can also hold Folder & document short cuts (I tend to put the Applications folder, my home user folder, and my documents folder in the dock) these go in the same side that minimized windows go (beside the trash, make sure to not drop folders in the trash ;) )
folders that are in the dock will display a list of everything that's in them when you click and hold down (right-click/control-click)
(for me, the Applications folder in the dock works like the start button in windows, a quick & easy way to access all of my programs, allows me to keep a much smaller number of icons permamently in the dock)

someone else mentioned this, but I had to comment on it as well, it is a great feature.

*cough*

You can put any toolbar you want on the Windows Taskbar, including folders with application shortcuts in them, or the entire contents of the hard drive.

For real fun, drag my computer or a folder over to the edge of the screen in Windows XP, you suddenly have a side-bar with all your folders/drives/whatever was in there. It auto-hides, and you can have multiple folders over there.

Don't forget the quick-launch bar, I love it, use it all the time.

Well-written article, I tend to agree with you on the gripes about the OS and such, and most of your points are well-reasoned. I love my PC, and don't plan on switching, and using a Mac at work hasn't changed that opinion, but I can see why some people like it.

I honestly think your preference for OS is like your preference for anything. I was born in Australia, so to me, this is the best country in the world. I dare so 200 million Americans wouldn't agree, let alone most of Europe, Africa and Asia etc... If you are used to using XP, that will always bias you against other OS's, and vice versa.

I also think Mac OS X is helping XP (Longhorn) become a better OS, and vice versa.

I just did a quick check on my Mac and I have 14 windows open in Safari, 2 in Camino, 1 in iCal, 7 in TextEdit, 14 in GraphicConverter, 23 in Photoshop, 4 in Terminal, 6 in AppleWorks, and 3 in Preview.

That makes 74 open windows on my computer. Frankly, the windows-method of task bar buttons for every open window proves extremely useless to me, whereas the organization of window by application through right-click (control-click for those of you who have the 1-button mouse) is very useful. As a Mac user I'm also still in the mindset of application-centric, which possibly isn't the best mindset to be in, but I know clicking on an application in the dock brings all of its windows to the front, at which point command-` will cycle through them (or the Windows menu).

One of the main things I've noticed between the way Mac users work and the way Windows users work is that Windows users seem to want everything maximized. It's sort of like you want one thing open at a time, and you use it to its fullest. Mac users tend to have many things open, with windows at all different sizes around the screen (we're multitaskers!). That doesn't maximize your screen real estate as well, but it really allows you to take advantage of features like drag-and-drop which, although it exists and works on a PC, is hardly useful when your window is the size of the screen. I just drag links to a folder on my desktop regularly.

So a lot of it is comfort. I think Mac OS X is a lot more familiar to Windows users than Mac OS 9 (or previous) ever was, and with the upcoming release of Panther this year, I think we'll see some really interesting new interface ideas that push us even more. Here's to hoping. :-)

Thanks for a great objective article, Steve. I hope you don't get Mac users bashing the article.. (sometimes I worry the Mac community is a bit too reactionary...)

(I always try to use the right tool for the right job first, btw.)

MSFT's greedy licensing schemes, heavy-handed treatment of developers, and incompatible "standards" implementation have left me cold. I have no illusions that Apple is incapable of these things, but as long as MCSFT continues to throw its weight around, and especially if Apple continues to support many of the open source projects I would ordinarily use Linux or Solaris for, then I don't see myself giving up my Ti-book.

Here's the ones I can't live without to be supra efficient:

Dragthing X : Have pop up windows that open and close on any part of the screen containing anything you like, including all running apps, drives, servers, links etc. Re: The System Preferences pane: I recreated this as a pop up in dragthing and can now access any of the preferences in a trice.

DockFun: Lets you put the dock anywhere. I have a tiny version in the bottom right of the screen showing all apps that are running, and I have Dragthing show a list of all apps that I WANT to see running in a bigger view. Also lets you have multiple docks which you can switch between to hold different apps.

FruitMenu: Lets you have completely customisable contextual menus (ones that drop down from the mouse position on right click). I have my home folder and all drives on that list, as well as Entourage and Safari. Can't get much quicker than that for access.

Launchbar: This is an unbelievable thing, especially when you are dealing with lots of files on your system. Launchbar hides in the background. You press a hot key (mine is control escape) and then you either type the initials or the first few letters of the thing you are looking for. You press return...if its an app, it launches, if its a folder it opens, if its a file it can show you where it is. It's instant. Has to be seen to be believed.

Pathfinder: This is an app that can take the place of the finder. Has cool features like MOVE which actually copies and then deletes bunches of files to other drives in one go, shows more details about files and folders, and is generally better in many ways. The other cool thing is that because it's an application, you can hide it and when ytou bring it back it is in the same state with all the windows/last search/whatever where you left it. Cool.

Applescript: How come no one mentioned Applescript? I love it.

Show Desktop: A small app that hides all apps with one clock on its menu bar icon.

Some other things to note about OS X and newer computers is it really doesn't care how many apps you leave open. I know that from years of 'tidyness' due to computers not being what they are now, we've all become 'quit' freaks. But OS X's multitasking takes care of all that in the background. I now always leave Entourage, Safari and Sytem Preferences open.

Last but not least, I like being able to go to System Prefs/Sharing and set the built in firewall.

I am not a fan of the dock, but that doesn't seem to matter. The one thing I miss from 9 is pop up windows, but James who wrote Dragthing assures me he's putting it in his next update.

Hope this helped some people who are wondering how to get the most out of their mac.

FYI I'm on my mac 12 hours a day doing music and I'm dealing with massive quantities of files. OS X isn't up for it alone, you need these apps to help you!

Not true, Windows handles such an amount of open windows very nicely, grouping them per application, so you just have to normal (left) click on the button and choose the window you want. This is undoubtly more intuitive than the mac way! And you always keep an overview of the open applications, without having to go to a menu or whatever. I don't like the idea at all that macs leave applications open even you're not working with a document in them! That's such a waste of resources...

Also, as a web developer I find X's screen shot capabilities far more useful than XP's.

I appreciated your points about the tactile transparency of X's icons. I agree that the Finder should behave like the Dock w/regards to icons. I also agree that navigating dialogs and form elements in X isn't as good as XP's. And thank god they ditched the round mouse! Thanks for the article!

2) Command tab will highlight the next running app in the Dock if you hold down command and press tab multiple times it will cycle through multiple apps. In Mac OS 10.2.x the first command tab in a series will highlight the last active application and then cycle from that point forward (This is great when you are working with two apps).

3) In system preferences (or any window that has a standard toolbar) you can click the button on the far right of the title-bar to hide the toolbar.

You can also turn on Full Keyboard Access in the Keyboard System Preference and play with Universal Access settings to gain even more control of your Mac OS X computer with a keyboard.

re : mouse . the idea according to them was to design a mouse that would fit confortably in the small hands of a child . that is actually probably what they were trying to do , but i don't think anyone outside of cupertino bought it .

re : "I open a new window that is larger than all the other windows, completely hiding all other windows. I have now have no way to get to the other applications without first moving or minimizing my current window" - every application has a Window menu . and guess what ? it lists every document window in that application (including the finder) .

re safari : "I did find that there was insufficient feedback when a link was clicked." - go to the View menu > Status Bar .

re : "I was mystified that using the Tab key (or Shift+Tab) to move through form elements only selected text input boxes, skipping radio buttons, pull-down menus, and check-boxes." - sigh ... yes , camino and IE are better that way .

re : "Is it possible to operate a mac without a mouse?" - they're working on it . go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Full Keyboard Access .

hope you get a chance to spend some more time with the system . it will grow on you ...

cheers

"[The Dock] can contain three distinct types of objects: Shortcuts to applications that are not currently running, icons of all applications currently running, and icons for any minimized windows."

Actually, the Dock can contain just about anything you want to put in it. Drag your hard drives, network drives, favorite applications, folders, files,..etc to the Dock for instant and easy access. If you drag a folder, you can Click+Hold to drill down to the folder. You can even drag items to folders in the Dock to move or copy items into that folder without ever opening the folder or navigating to it.

"The three-pane view, a relic from the NextStep OS, is fantastic."

The Column View is not limited to three panes. You can resize the window to display as many columns as you can fit on your screen. You can also resize the columns to fit even more by dragging the little vertical equals widget at the bottom of each scroll bar track. Option+click the same widget to resize a particular column (like the Preview column).

"I was completely confounded by the bar along the top of the System Preferences window. It contains duplicates of icons in the System preferences window."

Being able to add those System Preferences that you use regularly means that you don't have to scan through the entire list for those you frequently use. Additionally, you can quickly switch advance or move back through the few that you do without going back to the main list. This Preference Panel model is used by most developers now. See OmniWeb's fantastic Preference Window for a well-designed and organized set of preferences.

"Another annoyance: while icons have nice visual transparency, they also have tactile transparency. This basically means that if an icon has a hole in it, and you click in the hole, you haven’t clicked on the icon."

The masking are is defined by the developer, not the OS. If Internet Explorer's icon has holes in it, that's the fault of Microsoft.

"OS X only shows minimized windows on the dock. This led me to the following frustrating scenario several times: I have several windows from several applications open. I open a new window that is larger than all the other windows, completely hiding all other windows. I have now have no way to get to the other applications without first moving or minimizing my current window."

Others brought this up, but I thought I'd chime in with additional observations. There is a new (to Mac OS) windowing model in OS X; it uses interleaved windows, as opposed to application layers. Basically meaning that windows from different applications can mix together one on top of the other. Previous to OS X, the Mac OS windowing model meant that switching to a different application meant _all_ of that applications moving to the front (with the frontmost being active), even by clicking a window in the background. In OS X, to bring all the windows forward, you click on the Dock icon. To bring just one window forward, you click on that window, leaving all the other windows for that an other applications in the same layer they were in before the click. Command+clicking a window allows you to interact with a background window without making the window and the application active. A simple Click+Hold (or Right-click, or Ctrl+Click) on any application icon in the Dock brings up a list of all windows for that application. Additionally, you can operate some application just from their Dock icon -- see iTunes or Mail, for instance. But wait, there's more. ;)

Cmd+Tab allows application switching. Cmd+~ allows window switching. So, click Cmd+Tab to switch to your required application, then just switch from TAB to ~ to run through your windows. Also, try CMD+Tabbing through your applications. When you get to an application you want to quit, switch from TAb to 'Q'. Or to hide it, switch to CMD+H.

You also get: If you turn on Full Keyboard Access in the Keyboard Pane of System Preferences, you can navigate the Menu Bar, Window Toolbars, Windows, Utility Panels, and the Dock(!) with the Keyboard. Basically meaning never having to touch the mouse if you don't want to. You can quickly put focus on the Dock by clicking a key combination (I use "letter keys" so I click Control+D). Then you can move from icon to icon with the arrow keys. Then using the up and down arrow keys on an icon you can access it's Dock Menu. Clicking the Space Bar makes your selection. Also, be sure to choose the "Any Control" option at the bottom of the Full Keyboard Access Pane to use TAB, ESC, and all that in Sheets, Modal Panels, and the like.

"I grew to appreciate the diminished distinction between applications that are actively running and those that are not running (the only visual difference between the two is a small black arrow with the icon - see the screenshot to the right). However, I did find this made it easy to unintentionally leave a trail of opened applications with no documents open after a while."

This is really not a problem. I never quit any of my applications (unless I'm shutting the system down, which is rare). If you go to the Process Viewer in your Utilities folder, you can see that application left running with no open windows use very little to no CPU cycles. As times passes, the applications also give up any items they may have left in RAM. You can also see this by running "top" in the Terminal application. "Top" gives you a detailed listing of all you memory usage, from "Wired," "Active," "Inactive," "Virtual,"...etc. Unless you absolutely need to take an interest in your memory usage for high-load tasks, then leaving applications has very little to zero effect on performance.

---

Additional features I think you should check out are:

1. Customizable Toolbars: You can choose Customize Toolbar from each applications Menu Bar to create your own Toolbars. This is an incredibly handy feature in the Finder. You can also drag any application, folder, or File to a Finder toolbar for quick access. For example: If I download an application that mounts as a Disk Image, I simply drag the application's icon to the Application Folder icon I have in my Finder toolbar to install it. It takes a second, and you're done. The same can be said of any item. If I download some jpegs ;), I simply drag the jpegs from my Download folder to my JPEG's folder icon in the Finder toolbar to move or copy them in one simple step. Additionally, clicking on the same icons in the toolbar takes you to those folders instantly.

2. Services: This is one of the most under-mentioned yet most powerful features OS X has. Any application written in Cocoa (form OPENSTEP, as opposed to Carbon from Mac OS 9 and below) can offer other applications "services." These Services are found in each application's Application Menu (the one next to the Apple in the Menu Bar). These can also be accessed through a contextual menu (Click+Hold, Ctrl+Click, Right-Click). Highlight a bit of text and see what _other_ applications are offering your current app. Highlight a word and you can have OmniDictionary look the word up at Dictionary.com with just a Cmd+=. Or you can highlight a passage and send it to someone with Mail, summarize it with the built-in Summary resource. Or, the system can read it back to you. It's actually pretty cool.

3. InkWell: Apple's groundbreaking Handwriting Recognition Technology that it has been perfecting since it's introduction in 1993. You nee dot have a Wacom Tablet to try this tool out (or even to see the System Preference Pane). I use it everyday for tasks, and the recognition keeps getting better and better.

4. Speech Recognition: Little used, and in much need of an upgrade, but you can command you computer for a large number of tasks with just your voice. You iMac has a built-in microphone, so just turn Speech Recognition on in the System Preferences. Then, say, "Computer, tell me a joke." It just might make you laugh.

Well, I certainly went on and on, but I thought I'd answer as many questions as I could and give you a few tips to make your Mac use a little easier. Thanks again for a well-rounded and objective article.

The bar at the top of System Preferences probably has its roots in the NeXTstep operating system. NeXTstep had the concept of a "shelf," a place where icons could be put similar to the dock. For example, to move a file from one location to another, you could drag it to the shelf, then navigate to where you wanted to put it and take it off the shelf. I suspect that System Preferences' toolbar is intended to be a shelf of sorts.

It's also sort of a "bookmarks" feature. You can drag the prefs you use most often there, and avoid having to "show all" to go from one to the other.

Of course, if it is too annoying, one can always click the toolbar-hiding widget, at the right of the window's title bar, to get it out of the way.

As for not highlighting buttons, keep in mind that when Windows was introduced, mice were unusual. Microsoft could not count on Windows users having access to a mouse, so everything had to be controllable through the keyboard -- whether it made sense to do it that way, or not. That's stuck around as a legacy feature.

Macs have always come with mice. Since Apple can thus reasonably assume that every Mac user will have a mouse, they chose to design the OS accordingly. Instead of tabbing again and again to select a button, you click it. Of course, Mac OS X supports Windows-style keyboard activation, but you have to turn it on. Why? Apple considers that most people won't want to use the feature, and therefore it's less confusing for it to be off by default.

While you're mentioning things that you'll miss on Windows, may I point out a feature you might not have noticed? The Mac has the handy "Option" key, which takes the place of the Alt key on a Windows keyboard. The Option key's primary purpose is to let you enter special characters.

For instance, consider the em dash. It's the typographical character used for a dash that seperates ideas in a sentence -- represented in typewriter or online text as two hyphens with whitespace. On Windows, you have to hold down the Alt key and type 0151 on the numeric keypad to produce the em dash. On the Mac, you hold down the Option and Shift keys and type a hyphen. (Without Shift, you get the shorter en dash, which is Alt+0150 on Windows.) Want a cent sign? Option-4... easy to remember because 4 is also the $ key. Bullet? Option-8, and gee, a bullet is kind of like an asterisk. So is the "degrees" symbol, which is Option-Shift-8.

The Option key makes it a lot easier to do typesetting on a Mac... or even just make documents look professional, by using the right characters.

Finally, a bit of advice to Windows users switching to Mac. When you can't seem to do something, try doing the most obvious thing. That sounds condescending... but I've found that Windows users have gotten used to things being non-obvious. They search for a complex way to do things... a command buried in a menu, an arcane key combination. Sometimes, they do consider "hey, in three other programs, if I option-click on something like this, it does the thing I want," but too often such an idea is rejected as "too easy."

Apple has always stressed intuitive design and consistency to programmers. Don't be afraid to try doing something obvious. If you can say "It'd be nice if I could just..." it's worth giving it a shot. It's probably already in there. (Case in point: If you have Safari beta 2's Tabbed Browsing turned on, you can command-click a link to open it in a new tab. You can also press command-Return in the location or Google fields to open a new location or a Google search in a new tab. You can even use the middle mouse button [scroll wheel] to click on a link and have it open in a new tab.)

"I was mystified that using the Tab key (or Shift+Tab) to move through form elements only selected text input boxes, skipping radio buttons, pull-down menus, and check-boxes. Can anyone offer an explanation for this?"

This is a Safari-specific issue that I'm sure they'll update before it comes out of beta. OmniWeb, for example, does the best job I've seen of tabbing and filling out web forms and does all you mention and more (including expanding text windows like this one into bigger editing sheets).

"Is it possible to operate a mac without a mouse?"

You can certainly configure OS X to do most things without a mouse (there are exceptions depending on the program), including full keyboard access to all menu items, toolbars, the dock, windows, etc. When I'm so inclined, I go for hours without touching a mouse. That being said, there are often times when the keyboard is the long way, and a good program is designed to optimize the balance. Also, OS X has some great drag-n-drop features I can't find elsewhere (especially integrating the Terminal with GUI apps).

All in what your used to, I personally can't stand windows tabbing between buttons. As for running a mac without a mouse, that has been nigh to impossible ever since they were introduced in 1984. Almost impossible now, it was impossible back then because the arrow key's weren't on the orginal mac keyboard.

Overall I think you have a very objective ariticle written here. Good reading.

Think about that.

Clearly this would have been a better user experience if your hardware matched the OS. OSX 10.2 takes advantage of the Mac's on board video card allowing the CPU to do the labor intensive calculations while the graphics rendering is handled by the vid ram. The machine you used is outfitted with 16mbs of video ram, half of what is recommended for this feature. I do agree there is some overdesign at work in the way files are managed, but once you have settled on a way of doing things it all comes out in the wash. I do use windows at work and to be frank, the whole XP setup is limited and clunky reminding me of Mac's OS 7 from about 8 years ago. The only appealing feature my Dell seems to have at this point is an edge in processor speed. I notice this in some of my high end graphics projects. It runs apps (for the most part) the same as my mac does. Pound-for-Pound, the Mac just gives me a better integrated computing experience. And if you're spending nearly as much time as I have to spend in front of one of these things that is what counts. Did I mention crashes? I've had OSX booted on my ibook for better than 14 weeks - no crashes. The almost daily reboot on my Dell is a pain. I'm glad you liked Jaguar just the same, perhaps it will entice others to try it out.

Nice little article--except I get to experience reverse boxing glove effect every time I use Windows (about once every two weeks)!

A usable Dock isn't that hard. Get the free TinkerTool or Cocktail from VersionTracker. Now squish the thing in the bottom right corner (tell it to use the "End" position). If you're an old-skool mac user, this has the added benefit of returning the Trash to the bottom right corner of your screen. Also, make it very small (much as you hypothesized Steve, this is exactly how I use it). Finally, I also recommend buying a really good app launcher like MaxMenus. But if you want to go the low-end route, you can just drop your Applications folder on the Dock to make a cheapo launcher...

As for the minimize windows effect, this is one of the most useless things I've ever seen. It's only useful if you want to save that window for use an hour later, but not see it until then. Usually, you just want to see what's under it and be able to quickly access the window again. To fix this, buy Unsanity's WindowShade for $10, which makes windows collapse when double-clicked in the title bar.

And finally, as mentioned by others, OS X usually uses the first letter of the dialog item plus return for the default button and command-period for cancel. Tab is reserved for getting you between panes and type-able fields. Apple has never really cottoned to the idea of tabbing across every item--only the ones you can type in for some reason.

If you do much PHP/MySQL web scripting the fun can really begin. I love it because I can actually edit live on my Mac, thoroughly testing and jumping back and forth between jEdit, GoLive and phpMyAdmin and when I have it working right, I just upload it to the Red Hat server in a fully debugged state.

Hope you get a chance to use one with a bigger monitor next time!

I still find window management to be much easier in Windows, especially with Windows XP. Applications are all in the start button, and the stuff I'm doing is all on the taskbar. If I've got 20 html documents open, all the html documents collapse into a group that gives me nice control over the windows individually and as a group.

I can type my way in and out of any problem, and it's easy to minimize and maximize windows with easy key combos. Alas.

Macs are still dandy though. I find it strange that they deliver such a nice "integrated" experience and a well-rounded GUI yet half the macheads on the response chain are suggesting little programs you can buy to smooth out annoyances with the way Apple chose to do things... I can hit windows-r and type in the name of the program I want to run (assuming I know the name of the executable, a caveat to be sure), folder I want to open, web url I want to go to, "mailto:" + email address I want to send to... um, for free.

;)

And, like you did, I used a G3 laptop everyday. Let's say I live in Mac OS Zen (take it slowly, Grasshopper!). I made the mistake of using a 400MHz G4 desktop with a bucket load of RAM for a week and WHAT a difference. OS X really makes sense on G4s with lots of RAM. That cpu sucking glitz becomes a nice smooth ride that adds to the user experience.

Big deal, whilst the Mac way is nice, (i have a G4 to play on), windows has been offering a similar thing in windows explorer for years.
Just open explorer and then drag anything from the right hand pane to the left hand tree view and hold the mouse over any folder that needs to be opened or expanded and it will be, you can even scroll up and down in the pane, granted opening the folders is a little slow each time but the functionality is there.
And if you right click and drag you will get a menu of choices (copy/move/cancel) and you wont lose focus on the original folder!

As to the "leaving unused apps open" issue, it's not really an issue in OS X. It was an issue in OS 9 and previous, but not anymore, for the most part. There are still a few memory leaks here and there, but if an app has no open widows and is not performing a task, it doesn't take up any resources to speak of.

I understand the confusion, as this is not the way many previous OS's have worked. In fact, OS 9 doesn't work this way, and many upgrading Mac users still haven't discovered this and go about their old ways of closing unused apps "to free up RAM" that's already freed up.

I've heard of several OS X users who basically keep all of their semi-often used apps open ALL THE TIME, and many don't even restart but every week or so...so how can it be a waste of resources? If it was these people couldn't do that.

As this concept (and people's awareness of it) matures, the dock's intermingled placement of open and unopened apps will not seem as much of an oddity. You place your icons in the order you want them, so they are ALWAYS there, instead of having to look TO SEE IF your app is open. As I become more used to this, the more I'm starting to love that I can ALWAYS go to the same place to deal with a particular app.

Also, I'm not sure exactly how Windows works, but previous to OS X, opening and closing apps constantly was not good RAM management, which is always why I have hated that Windows quit the program when I closed a window, and then had to relaunch (and wait) for the app to open over and over.

Plus I think XP's GUI is lame. Maybe its the sheer ubiquity of Windows, but I don't see it as exciting, entertaining, nor particularly helpful. OS X at least looks good, like someone actually spent some artistic energy on it. My one gripe about the mac interface is the single menu bar. I prefer the menu bar to move with the window, but I guess the single bar is a holdover from when Mac's had 9" screens. It does save space.

I have four computers at home: 1 XP game box, 2 Linux PCs, and an Apple powerbook. The mac is the slowest of the bunch, and ironically the one I use the most. Guess that says it all.

My system is the same as yours (1999, 400Mhz, Graphite iMac) with a bit more RAM (768 MB), a two-button/scroll wheel mouse and full size keyboard. I've found it to be fast enough for my daily tasks. In fact, it runs OS X better than XP runs on a PC of similar vintage.

If you spend a few weeks with OS X, I'm sure you will be able to switch back and forth between platforms easily as many of us Mac users do. Plus, you'll find that being a niche platform has some advantages like virtually no viruses, spyware or ad laden applications.

In OSX, you can switch between windows of an active application by clicking command-` (That's an accent, the key immediately above the tab key.)

This fantastic function lets you differentiate between switching between applications (command-tab) and within an application, which should address you concern about losing windows when you open a new one.

"I don't like the idea at all that macs leave applications open even you're not working with a document in them! That's such a waste of resources..."

Only for a crash-prone Wintel system...(Now just wait, I'll get dozens of responses from WinXP folks claiming they haven't rebooted in *n* years. Oh well.)

Great comments, all around. I've been a long-time (and satisfied) Windows user and have recently made the 'switch;' previous Mac OS versions I could never get excited about. I'm glad so many responded with 'power use' tips for OS X.

I have a question and 2 comments:

1. When a cursor is somewhere in the middle of a line of text, pressing 'home' or 'end' doesn't cause the cursor to move to the respective end of the line, a Windows functionality I sorely miss in Mac OS. Anybody know if there's a way?

2. One thing I don't like is when I click on, say, the Apple, select 'Dock Preferences,' and change something, it closes the drop-down menu immediately, even if I want to make multiple changes, which is a hassle.

3. One thing nobody mentioned is when a change is made, say in SysPref, the change happens automatically (and immediately), without the need for a Windows 'Apply' button. Very nice touch.

I've configured my XP system at home to work like a Mac as closely as a I can: Taskbar on the top of the screen, Start Menu where the Apple is, trash can is bottom right. Also, XP has a response to Mac's app-centric GUI: it involves the tray icons, which contain programs that are continuously running.

I use Mozilla at home, which can be set to run in the tray, even without open windows. When I want a new window–browser, mail, whatever–I simply right click and select. Extremely useful; almost totally indispensable. (Though Moz tends to freeze XP every few days or so and sometimes requires rebooting...)

So this seems to be the fault of the (otherwise very good) Mac Business Unit at Microsoft.

hm.. isnt it the other way round? isnt windows incompatible to all other platforms? the mac could always read iso-cds. windows doesnt read anything but iso, ntfs and fat.

Also, the 'Window' menu on the 'Menu Bar' is traditionally the way you select windows within the same application.

There are equivalents. Ctrl-a and ctrl-e.

The happy news for some Unix users is that Emacs key bindings (at least motion and ctrl-k) work just about everywhere in MacOS X. (As a vi user, I'm not that thrilled, but vi keybindings in GUIs is so far unheard of)

In any case, using MacOS X from the command line, it is obvious that many of the developers are from a primarily Unix background.

Running jaguar on a 400mhz g3 imac is like running xp on a pentium 3 700 with a 16mb video card. It runs it ok but only barely. You cant compare it with the experience of your thinkpad. Try a powerbook g4 and go crying home to momma :)

I personally use a p4 acer 1.7ghz desktop at work with xp and a g4 fp imac at home. I MUCH prefer using the imac. OSX is a far superior OS to xp in my opinion, after having used both from a power user, server and admin perspective.

Having said that you cant argue with anyone's opinion, but any criticisms listed here seemed rather superficial to me. I can assure you that the experience of going back to windows for a mac user for a mere week after many years of mac use is far worse than what you just had to go through :)

Alternatively, you can use CMD-rightArrow and CMD-leftArrow to do this.
CMD-up and CMD-down will move to the beginning and the end of the document.

Option-right and Option-left will move to the end of the current word (or the word after that) or to the beginning of the word, respectively.

All these shortcuts can obviously be used while holding the Shift key to make selections.

Cheers!

ML

Think of it like this: to open a file, Command-O; to save Command-S; to save AS, Command-Shift-S; and so on.

For the longest time, the Ctrl key was unused on the Macintosh except by some rare applications, or the use of a Macro editor such as QuickKeys.

You can sorta think of the Option key as "Alt" but it's not *quite* the same. It certainly doesn't function the same way on Windows/Linux. I'm used to (after some 15+ years of Mac'ing) thinking of it as a Command-key modifier. :)

HTH!

Cheers,

No more confusion over which end is up.

Later versions of the Puck featured an indent on the button to make 'feeling' it easier for those people who can't figure out the mouse cord thing. I always thought it would be a nifty idea to take off the mouse's side-panels and take them into any high-school wood/plastics shop, melt them slightly, and put indents in them so that the 'sides' of the mouse were easily found, and then put them back on.

The newer optical mouse is MUCH better though. And as you mention, adding another third-party USB mouse is easy enough. The MS Intellimouse makes a good and inexpensive choice. (The one decent thing Microsoft has released in years, and the only piece of the Microsoft pie I've ever owned in 15 years :)

ReeD wrote "One of the main things I've noticed between the way Mac users work and the way Windows users work is that Windows users seem to want everything maximized. It's sort of like you want one thing open at a time, and you use it to its fullest. Mac users tend to have many things open, with windows at all different sizes around the screen (we're multitaskers!)."

I think some of that comes from the fact that Macs have only one menubar--on a Windows machine you have to decide which File menu you want and aim for it, made worse by the fact that menus in background windows are active. On a Mac the File Menu is always in the same place.

www.winbrowser.com

I've used WinBrowser for years (being a Nextstep user in a former life), & love the ability to collect files on it's "shelf" as well as the intuitive way you can view files in your system in general.

Cheers,

Rich